''Changing Times'' is a 1970 studio album by American soul music vocal group

Four Tops The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes. Founded as the ...

, released by

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

Reception

A review in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' recommends this album to retailers for having an "interesting and winning pressing" and the publication highlighted several key tracks. Editors at AllMusic Guide scored this release three out of five stars, with critic Ron Wynn noting the strength of the vocalists, particularly on the title track and characterizes their work as "a solid job". The 1992 edition of ''The'' Rolling Stone ''Album Guide'' rated this release 2.5 out of five stars. The album was produced by Frank Wilson who had earlier in 1970 scored a major comeback for the Four Tops with the ''Still Waters Run Deep'' release. These two albums were on the market at the same time as follow up '' The Magnificent 7'', with ''Changing Times'' having the weakest sales of them all.

Track listing

#"In These Changing Times" ( Frank Wilson (musician) and Pam Sawyer) – 5:28 #"Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)" (Sawyer and Leon Ware) – 3:11 #" Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head" (

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

and Hal David) – 3:40 #"Right Before My Eyes" (Sawyer and Wilson) – 3:18 #"I Almost Had Her (but She Got Away)" ( Vincent DiMirco) – 3:12 #"

Try to Remember "Try to Remember" is a song about nostalgia from the musical comedy play ''The Fantasticks'' (1960). It is the first song performed in the show, encouraging the audience to imagine what the sparse set suggests. The words were written by the Amer ...

" ( Tom Jones (lyricist) Harvey Schmidt) – 4:24 #"Something’s Tearing at the Edges of Time" (Sharon Lucas) – 2:45 #"Sing a Song of Yesterday" (Yennik Samoht, Wilson and Sawyer) – 4:03 #Medley: " The Long and Winding Road" / "In These Changing Times" ( John Lennon and Paul McCartney / Sawyer and Wilson) – 4:36

Personnel

Four Tops *

Renaldo Benson Renaldo "Obie" Benson (June 14, 1936 – July 1, 2005) was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter. He was best known as a founding member and the bass singer of Motown group the Four Tops, which he joined in 1953 and continued to perf ...

– baritone vocals *

Abdul Fakir Abdul Kareem Fakir (born December 26, 1935), professionally known as Duke Fakir, is an American singer. He is a founding member of the Motown quartet the Four Tops, from 1953 to the present day. A first tenor, Fakir is the group's lone surviving ...

– tenor vocals *

Lawrence Payton Lawrence Albert Payton (March 2, 1938 – June 20, 1997) was an American tenor, songwriter, vocal arranger, musician, and record producer for the popular Motown quartet, the Four Tops. In 1997, at 59 years old, Payton died of liver cancer. Bio ...

– tenor vocals * Levi Stubbs – lead and baritone vocals Additional personnel *Curtis McNair –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* Jimmy Roach – arranement *Tom Schlesinger – graphics * David Van De Pitte – arrangement * Frank Wilson – production

Chart performance

''Changing Times'' peaked at 109 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and reached 20 on the R&B charts.

References

External links